Disclaimer: I own nothing in this Fanfiction.
Chapter XIII: Late February Night
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Over the bridge linking the two parts of the city and below the cloudy night sky, a black knight stood in wait alongside a redheaded teen. Saber and her Master were wordlessly watching the shadows, puffs of steam manifesting in front of them as they breathed into the cold air.
It was then when it emerged leisurely from the darkness.
"I thought you'd pass through here…" Shirou announced, tone indicating delight as an expectant smile manifested on his face.
A shadow reformed into black and red tendrils, stripes made out of pure magical energy wrapped and danced symmetrically in a circle. Like an artistic play, it formed a pool of black mud which birthed the figure of the mysterious girl with the white hair and the mask.
"Zolgen Makiri."
The black knight's eyes immediately shrunk in suspicion, then panned out in surprise as a sickly cough/laughter came from behind them. She turned around in one swift motion to see swarms of insects and centipedes gather and fester into the figure of a short, sickly old man. He revealed a toothless smile then spread his arms.
"I haven't heard that name in ages, young man." The worm Magus answered as if gurgling on his own vomit, "What is it that you want from a corky old man such as myself?"
Saber's face contorted in utter detestation, "Master." She addressed as the black sword of mass destruction manifesting in her hand, "May I remove this eyesore from my sight?"
"Eager to fight are we… Saber?" The old man replied in his demented voice, "While I can't deny you that desire, I'd love to hear what your Master has to say first."
"Calm yourself, Saber. Your time will come sooner than you expect." Announced Shirou, lowering his head to the point that his hair covered his amber eyes which suddenly glowed yellow, "Release the girl, old worm. Do that and you may still live until the end of this Grail War."
Immediately, Zouken's face contorted into a smug expression. "Oh my… I didn't expect you to be so—"
His words were left incomplete as, before anyone could react, a barrage of swords rained down on the old man's figure shredding his body.
It would be a lie to say Saber saw that one coming, let alone the snort of disgust which followed.
"Spare me your nonsense, just let go of the girl and begone with you." Shirou spoke once again, this time directing his words towards the white haired girl.
She responded with a laughter that wasn't hers. It was clear that Zouken was controlling her somehow.
"That is too much to ask, young man." Her borrowed voice casually addressed, making Saber's already complicated expression grow into a smirk of anticipation. "If you want my granddaughter, you'll have to take her from me—!"
"Saber!"
Clashing of metal on metal. Rider materialized and went on the defensive to protect her Master from the black Saber who rushed in.
"Wha—?" Saber wasn't even planning on attacking, she moved merely on instinct. Only when her blade was blocked by Rider's cross did the real danger manifest.
Another one of those black tendrils rushed towards Shirou with the speed of a bullet, Saber saw it go past her and grit her teeth as she attempted to gain advantage over the Servant in front of her.
Some silence came to pass, only interrupted by the grinding of metal on metal from the Servants who were locked in a clash. When Saber was able to take a hold of her footing, she immediately let out a Mana Burst which powered her up enough to quite literally fling Rider off the bridge and into the water below.
She hurriedly turned around to see what had become of her Master. And to her confusion, there was no sign of the tendril anywhere, and not a scratch on his body.
He smiled darkly, raising a hand and taking a stance.
"What—?!" Zouken exclaimed, "On the brink of death and insanity, yet you still defy me Sakura?!"
The black knight looked at the girl standing opposite her. She was shaking and her Magical energy fluctuated wildly.
"I feel sorry for you, old man." Shirou placed a hand on his forehead, covering one eye while the other continued to glow fierce gold. "Had you just given up the girl, you might've lived a few more days. But now… Now I have to kill you myself!"
The girl suddenly stopped shaking, then the maniacal laughter of Zouken was heard coming from behind her mask.
"Don't underestimate me, insolent fool!"
Seven tendrils emerged from all around the bridge and rushed towards the teen with great speed. Saber fought off a couple but they were spread apart in a way where it was impossible for her to reach them all at the same time, five of them made it past her.
Shirou instantly projected two straight swords, trying to deflect as many of the tendrils as he could. He twisted his body to dodge one that came for his head, while cutting off one that was headed towards his arm. However, when the tendril that was cut disappeared, Shirou's sword which he used to deflect it dematerialized as well. His pupils shrunk in understanding. These tendrils dispel Magical Energy and absorb it.
He created another sword and cut two at the same time, carefully trying not to get touched by the shadowy limbs. And with his other sword made a wide slash to end the last threat before it even reached him.
Saber was impressed to say the least, but she knew something was wrong. Her instinct skill screamed at her again to look the other way, where Sakura stood.
She was no longer there, as if she evaporated out of existence. But she still sensed a great impending danger.
"Master… Something's not right! Don't let your guard down!" The black knight warned as she took on a stance. It was at that moment, in the silence of the night, sounds echoed in her ears, tens— No thousands of small legs crawling in approach, then the buzzing of insectoid wings. In the distance, lights started to flicker out of existence. As if something was approaching, it was swallowing them whole.
Shirou took on a serious expression as he realized…
—That wasn't the night sky they were looking at.
Overwhelming darkness and thousands of insects were coming towards them like a tsunami. Soon, they would be overwhelmed with their sheer numbers and swallowed up like a dot of sugar in a colony of ants.
The redhead's hand clenched as he remembered the priest's statement not to inflict property damage. Although, he wasn't going to let that bother him.
Relaxing his muscles and taking a deep breath behind Saber. She braced herself, yet was genuinely a little worried at the sight.
"I am… the bone of my sword…"
Saber's eyes widened as her entire facial expression changed in surprise upon hearing the words spoken by her Master, followed up by a wide grin.
At that moment, she felt stupid for even worrying at all.
Shirou tapped into the information granted to him by his mentor; the Grand Order was it? He didn't really care for what happened back at the Throne of Time or in the Singularities, instead he focused on one of the Heroic Spirits that he saw in those memories.
A delicate figure of a woman in the prime of her youth. She wore a latex bodysuit, with a piece of cloth draped over her chest and a heart-shaped insignia linked to her collar. A similar piece of cloth hung over her crotch, tied by a rope around her waist.
She brandished a unique Katana… A weapon that was made to execute criminals, but also cackled with purple lightning when she swiped at the hordes and hordes of Demon God pillars which swarmed her and her Master.
He needed that power. No, he craved it. Even if it would burn out all of his Magical Energy reserves and fry some of his circuits.
"Trace ON!"
"Appear, my four heavenly kings… No… My retainers of Gozu Tenno—!"
Lightning struck around him four times simultaneously as his eyes continued glowing explosive gold, his Magical Circuits burned as they entered a state of overdrive. But all of that paled in comparison to the crushing pain which ravaged his mind and body. He was being warned. His puny human body was not made to withstand the higher art which was a Servant's Noble Phantasm, especially one of this caliber.
Dust cleared to reveal four exact copies of himself, each wielding a different weapon. One stood upright, gripping a red bladed Katana, a second leaned forward under the weight of a great golden axe. Another was turning his back, between his fingers was a steel Naginata, wrapped with magical feathers. The last was in possession of a bow which had kunai-like spikes on the edges.
Wordlessly, the four clones of Emiya Shirou, the Four Heavenly Kings of Gozu Tenno, vanished and reappeared facing the approaching horde of shadowy death and insects, as the original Emiya Shirou brandished the Katana, Doujigiri Yasutsuna, the same way that Heroic Spirit did. He watched with a pained expression, how his clones separated, two on the right and two on the left of the bridge, herding the insects and shadow tendrils onto the bridge in front of him. Crushing, reaping and electrocuting anything which attempted to approach him any other way.
Saber just watched in awe as she felt the world around her waver under the weight of the unique art, the special thaumaturgy which was, clearly, a Noble Phantasm.
The impending danger got closer by the second, as Shirou took on a stance with the sword in his hands and swung, mimicking the woman in his borrowed memories. The Heroic Spirit summoned under the class of Berserker, Minamoto no Raiko.
"Goō Shōrai - Tenmōkaikai! — Vengeful Lightning of the Ox-King!"
A torrent of electric rage escaped the tip of the blade, covering the entire bridge in a swift yet precise eradication. To call that attack a lightning storm would be an understatement, because when the light finally faded, there was nothing left on the bridge. It was wiped clean, not even ashes remained.
A thump of something impacting the floor came from behind the shocked Saber, which immediately removed her stunned expression. Instantly turning around, she rushed to pick up her Master who dropped unconscious out of both exhaustion, and the heavy cost of replicating that which shouldn't be replicated.
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Insects gathered and formed into a humanoid shape within the Matou Mansion's living room. Zouken's body reformed after another sorry victim who was unlucky enough to be wandering outside at this time. His expression indicated unamusement, not only did his plan straight up fail, but in a spectacular turn of events, he had learned that one of the competitors is able to not only replicate Noble Phantasms, but also unleash their True Name. He raised his staff and tapped the ground once, as he thought about how his plans for this Grail War were just completely mangled due to this irregularity. He wasn't stupid, he noticed the outer influence that the boy had around him, he was backed by a force to be reckoned with, which was nothing to scoff at.
Zouken Matou needed to find a way to swiftly eliminate this threat, or else he would be at great risk.
Another tap from his staff, he exhaled and smiled.
"Assassin."
Zouken nodded in consent as he looked upon his work, his latest experiment, a crushing success.
Right in front of him stood an abomination;
A humanoid figure curved into the limit of a spinal cord, only half its head had hair, wavy, charred and blue colored.
Half the face was covered with a skull mask while the other was just the bare skull itself. The right arm was wrapped with a thick bandage and the skin became darkened like tar.
Those were Zouken's results of years of tampering with the Grail's system. They taught him more than he needed to know, in addition to the knowledge he already had being one of the creators of the system itself and Kiritsugu Emiya's attempt at destroying the Grail… Zouken knew that the failsafe system would not be able to handle recovery without dropping the security they had set up.
At first, the plan was to summon Assassin by hijacking a set of Command Seals straight from the source. But while accessing the Grail's Data, he found that, strangely enough, half of Assassin was already summoned. How and why was beyond him, but he didn't care. Circumstances were kind enough to provide him a fix.
Shinji was now a vessel for the assassin class pseudo-servant, Hassan-I-Sabbah.
"Go Assassin, do what we previously discussed."
The humanoid figure's head bobbed up and down, then it disappeared from existence with a flash of darkness blazing out of the window.
The dark figure that was Assassin ran down the streets towards Ryuudo Temple like a lightning bolt, making the Emiya Mansion his destination.
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"So you're saying that Berserker is most likely hiding out in the Einzbern Castle?"
Rin, Shiki and their Servants were listening to Bazett who finally got a chance to speak after they calmed down. They were walking as they discussed, but they stopped by the foreign graveyard a short walk away from Fuyuki church on Bazett's request.
"No. I am not saying that it's just a possibility, I have seen it with my own eyes." She explained with a serious expression.
"Well… That makes searching for him a lot easier." Commented Shiki as he rubbed his left arm with his right hand, "But Bazett-san, why would you tell us this?"
Bazett's eyebrow twitched at the way Shiki addressed her, then Tohsaka joined in.
"Yeah, why would you share such important info with your enemies?"
The bearer of Fragarach sighed and raised her gloved hand to her forehead, "Well… I don't really care for a fourth Command Seal, and while I don't think Lancer would have any trouble taking down Berserker by herself, I thought it'd be way safer and much easier if I got some more hands on the case."
Some silence came to pass as Rin and Shiki exchanged glances.
"What do you think, Tohsaka? With the ceasefire active, you shouldn't have any worries about me stabbing you in the back or anything." Continued Bazett, closing her eyes in confidence, "Besides, with the three of us and our Servants, the risk of Berserker escaping is pretty much nonexistent. Add that with the chance of you two getting an extra Command Seal… An impassable offer if I say so myself."
"I guess you're right... But why us specifically?" Questioned Shiki, lifting his hand up like a student would in class.
"That would be obvious." A new voice explained as Lancer's figure came into being directly in front of Shiki Tohno. Her face was barely an inch away from his, her red eyes almost peering into his very soul, "You killed Berserker once, right? That's what you said last time, didn't you?"
The glasses-wearing teen swallowed his discomfort away and forced a smile, "Y–Yeah… I guess I did say that." He turned his face and positioned himself a respectable distance away.
The Servant smiled as a reaction and fixed her hair, "I apologize, but I had to take a good look to confirm my suspicions."
"Lancer… Now is not the time." Commented Bazett, "So what say you, Rin Tohsaka? Tohno-san?"
The duo exchanged glances one more then shrugged. The brunette nodded, "Well, when you put it that way… There's no reason to reject such an offer."
Shiki affirmed as well by nodding, "Yeah, that sounds alright, but we'll need to move fast if we're planning on taking out Berserker. The longer we wait, the stronger he grows."
Bazett smiled confidently as Lancer nodded once, "Then, let the hunt begin."
"Okay so, what's the plan?" Shiki asked, still sensing the piercing gaze of Lancer focused on him.
"It's simple really…" Bazett explained, adjusting her tie. "We storm the Castle, locate Berserker's main body and destroy it. With our team composition, we just need to position ourselves correctly to stop him from fleeing, but other than that it's just the matter of taking him down."
Rin placed a hand on her chin as she pondered her words for a bit, "Do you have an idea about the Castle layout or are we going in blind?"
The woman in the formal suit cleared her throat, "Well of course. During my scouting mission, I discovered that the Castle had only one entrance through the front gate. It has four floors and two wings, with a roofless courtyard." She paused and shot a glance towards Archer, "Your Servant is an Archer, right? Then he can cover us from the roof."
"Hm, that's a good idea." Rin hummed positively, "That way, you two can storm the place without worrying about being cornered. Seems like a good plan to me."
"Then Caster and I will go in upfront while you and Lancer close in on him from the courtyard." Shiki added while pointing at Bazett, "That way we can intercept him from every direction if he tries to make a run for it."
"Sounds about right to me as well." Commented Lancer's Master, "Then, let's get going—"
Everyone froze in place. An overwhelming sensation of a massive Magical Energy spike covering all of their senses with shock. It came directly from the bridge and was so thick that it couldn't be anything but a Noble Phantasm.
In one move, Archer leaped over towards the bell tower of the church. He stood, using the cross as footing to locate whatever the hell was going on, and what he saw made a shiver run down his spine.
A flash of light, then the bridge was covered in a blanket of purple lightning which evaporated…
something which was approaching. He couldn't see what was going on very clearly but he could tell that Saber was involved.
"Archer! What do you see? What was that?" Rin screamed at him from below, deeply concerned that more casualties would be caused.
"A Servant unleashed their Noble Phantasm on the bridge." Reported Archer mechanically, "I suspect it was Saber, but I don't see what she was fighting."
The brunette's heart sank all of a sudden, "What…? But that… Kirei forbade property damage… How come—"
"The bridge is surprisingly intact, aside from a few malfunctioning light bulbs…" Her Servant cut her off, explaining the situation to calm her down.
A sigh of relief. She felt that her knees almost gave up on her, "Thank god…"
Shiki Tohno who was just watching decided to speak up, "But how did she manage to unleash her Noble Phantasm without destroying the bridge?" he asked naturally, "Didn't she like, burn down five houses last time she did that?"
Just then, he felt a tug on his wrist; "Master… Servants can have more than just one Noble Phantasm, some of them are more destructive than others…" Caster explained calmly, "In my humble opinion, I don't think we should approach them at the moment. We can deal with them once Berserker is defeated."
"I'm with Caster on this." Followed Lancer in acknowledgment, "Saber might be a formidable opponent, but even she isn't invincible. Let us focus on Berserker for now and when the time comes, we'll see what happens."
Bazett and Shiki both shot a look at the brunette, just as Archer descended.
"It seems like she's retreating back to the Emiya Mansion." The bowman announced, "Looks like they won't be bothering us any more tonight. What do you say, Rin?"
"We stick to the plan." Tohsaka responded after clearing her throat and shaking her hesitation off, "Berserker should be eliminated first."
"Then it's settled." The woman in the formal suit confirmed with a dismissive tone before taking a look at her wrist watch, "We'll meet south of the Einzbern Forest by the main road in… Four hours. Is that good for you two?"
"Sounds good to me, we'll see you there in four hours." Rin confirmed, earning a smile of confidence from Lancer's Master. Four hours was more than enough time to prepare anyway.
"Alright, see you then." Bazett said as she turned around, waving her hand before walking away from the duo. Lancer gave a nod of respect before dematerializing, leaving just Shiki, Rin and their Servants standing next to the graveyard.
Shiki finally let out an abnormally large sigh of annoyance, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Aw man… What the hell was that?!" he complained loudly while rubbing his temples. "That Lancer chick looks just like Sen— I mean Aozaki-san!"
Archer snorted audibly as he recalled her image from the knife's memories, "I noticed she took a special interest in you, maybe you're just her type." He mocked with a wide grin on his face.
"Ara Shiki-kun~ I did not think you were into older women…" Added Rin, joining in the mocking with a smug expression.
Caster just blushed wordlessly on the side as Shiki's face comically filled up with a red color, "You two— I heard from Aozaki-san that Servants summoned without a Catalyst usually have similar personalities to their summoners." he said as he pushed his glasses farther up his nose bridge, "Seems like she was right."
That prompted them to shut up and glance at each other for a second before… "NO WAY THAT'S THE CASE!" In unison, both screamed at the four-eyed teen.
"Ahem… Well, in any case… That's not why I was complaining though…" Shiki resumed the serious air from before, "Whenever she looked at me, my eyes hurt like hell…"
"Em… I noticed something as well." Caster joined in looking pretty worried, "When she was examining you up close, in that brief moment, she put some kind of sigil on your glasses. It wasn't harmful Magecraft so I didn't stop her, but I was going to confront her about it if the opportunity presented itself."
"WHAT?" Was both Shiki and Rin's reaction, the latter immediately approaching the first to examine his glasses.
"Dammit she did it in front of our eyes and we didn't even notice!" The brunette commented as she noted the existence of a Rune engraved over the glass of Shiki's glasses, "Let's see… Wait! This is a Rune of enhancement!"
Shiki, who was way too tired of having chicks too close to his face, backed away when she was done looking.
"What? Rune of Enhancement?" he inquired curiously. Tohsaka fixed her stance before raising a hand, "Basically, this Rune is a reinforcement spell cast on a conceptual level. Whatever thing this Rune affects will have its properties enhanced. What puzzles me is why the hell did she put that on your glasses?"
"Oh yeah…" Shiki exclaimed in realization, "These Mystic Eye killers started to malfunction on me lately, I'll have to thank her later if this actually works!"
For a good moment, Rin just stared at Shiki in bewilderment.
"Mystic eye kille— Tohno-kun…" she repeated, paused then politely called out which made a shiver run down his spine, "Are you, by any chance, unable to control your Mystic Eyes?"
"Uhm…" he hesitated, but his hesitation was all she needed to see to learn the answer.
A deep breath was drawn by Tohsaka…
"Just how are you standing in front of me right now? Your brain must've been fried a million times! You should be dead!" A barrage of accusations came from Rin in disbelief. To her, the idea was unfathomable.
Shiki rubbed the back of his head, not knowing whether to feel proud of his achievement or ashamed from his inability to control his eyes.
"Well… Nothing we can do about it now…" he said, dismissing the furious Tohsaka, "If what Lancer did was just to help, she's cool in my book. Even though she creeps me out a little."
Caster nodded along as he spoke, as Rin just exhaled in defeat, "You're a big idiot and I hate you." She stated with a tired voice, "Come on, let's get going."
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Author's Note:
Sorry for the late upload, I had my finals exam for High School last week, then I got dragged into the rabbit hole of an old RPG Maker Game called Fear & Hunger for the rest of the week. In anycase, this chapter was a little shorter, mainly because I want the start of the next phase of the war to be in its own chapter. Also yes, I know canonically Shirou cannot unleash the name of the Noble Phantasms he creates but who gives a shit. I think its cool, also if that's the case why does Archer threaten to project and use Excalibur during UBW? I'm genuinely confused about that one. Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll be looking forward to more reviews and opinions!